Alachua County commissioners on July 8 approved a purchase and sale agreement to acquire a 133-acre tract owned by Weyerhaeuser Natural Resources Co. that adjoins the Little Orange Creek Nature Preserve, expanding protected lands in a conservation partnership with Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT).

Andy Christman, the county's land conservation program manager, told commissioners the parcel scored highly on the Alachua County Forever evaluation matrix and lies within the Little Orange Creek conservation area. The negotiated purchase price for the county parcel is $669,950; with due diligence and a contingency buffer, the county requested authorization for a total expenditure of $791,078.

The contract is a tri-party agreement: Alachua County will acquire the Alachua parcel while ACT will acquire the adjacent Putnam County parcel. Weyerhaeuser retained limited timber-harvest rights for approximately 22 acres of mature slash pine; the company has 12 months (with a six-month wet-weather extension) to complete that harvest or it will waive the right.

Christman said the parcel is composed of remnant sandhill and pine plantation that can be restored to longleaf and managed to protect gopher tortoises and other species. ACT has already obtained funding and plans to replant longleaf and to manage invasive grasses where present. ACT also runs environmental education programs on the Little Orange Creek preserve, including Creekside Environmental Education for Kids, which brings thousands of students to the preserve.

Commissioners asked about plantings, gopher tortoise considerations and management. Staff noted the management will be assigned to ACT under a land-management agreement; any timber harvest rights and work clauses are spelled out in the contract. The county will incorporate the new parcel into the preserve's management plan and a conservation easement will be recorded to formalize long-term protections.

The board approved the purchase and the tri-party contract with the requested due-diligence funds and contingency; commissioners praised ACT's programs and the strategic value of the addition to the preserve. One commissioner later asked the minutes to note that he would have voted in favor though he had briefly been out of the room during the live vote.